Sharon Ward



Sharon is responsible for ensuring the continued delivery of the high quality, academic and practically focused qualifications for which ICA is known, focusing on developing the practices of the Association through a variety of academic and educational activities, together with management of the relationship between academic and practical approaches and of the Course Directors responsible for each programme.

During her five years with ICA, initially as Global Course Director and more recently as Development Director, Sharon has been involved in a number of key initiatives contributing to the organisation’s development. These have included the ongoing ICA/Skills Council Standards and Qualifications project and, more recently, the Distance Learning development programme including the introduction of webinars.

With an MSc in Financial Regulation and Compliance Management, together with a number of other industry recognised qualifications and over 20 years in the financial services sector, Sharon is a highly qualified compliance professional with extensive practical compliance and business experience across a number of financial services disciplines. She was formerly the Compliance and Training Director for a large IFA network where she held the CF10 Controlled Function. She was the Chair of the Midlands Region for the Compliance Institute in addition to being a visiting lecturer at London Metropolitan University and, upon joining ICA, she was appointed as a visiting lecturer on the University of Manchester Business School MBA and delivered the Management of Compliance, Regulation and Risk programme on a global platform.